Evylen's Cousin
by Mari Knickerbocker
Summary: what if Evie had a cousin, and she happend to join them in their search for Alex and the Scorpian King
1. An Unexpected Meeting

Disclaimer I don't own the Mummy Returns or any of the characters. The only things I own ae what you don't recgonize from the moive. Thanks, enjoy!

"Izzy! Izzy you lying cheat! You bet my horse in a card game and then had the audacity to lose?!" A woman's angry voice rung out across the compound, interrupting Rick's attempt to talk Izzy into ferrying them about Egypt after Alex. At the sound of those angry words, Izzy became if possible, even more nervous and jumpy than he had been upon seeing Rick. Izzy's nervous gestures reminded Evelyn of Jonathon when he had been caught cheating. The voice sounded vaguely familiar to Evelyn but she could not seem to place it.

The sight of a slightly petite woman storming up to Izzy and blocking any escape did nothing to help Evie figure out why this clearly angry woman should sound so familiar. The woman stood dangerously close and imposingly next to the pilot; he was actually cringing at the sight of her fury despite that, she was shorter than him by almost a foot. Evie would judge her to be about five-three where as Izzy was at least six feet tall, if not taller.

"Now listen, I never meant for you to find out about that, and I was planning on buying her back. Once I go the money." Izzy tried to placate her, but the woman would have none of it.

"Izzy, that horse is a pure breed Arabian mare; her lineage goes back farther than your own! In fact, she is the direct descendant of one of Seti's prized stallions. Khepri is worth more than the mere two thousand you bet her against and then lost."

Evelyn watched the irate woman continue her rant in a quieter voice that managed to convey even more anger than her initial yell with a certain amount of amusement. She could appreciate the sight of the petite woman making Izzy literally quake in his boots. Evie almost felt like she should be taking notes.

As she watched, Evie tried to figure out why the woman seemed so damn familiar. She had hair so dark that at first Evie thought it was some shade between brown and black. Until the sun caught it, causing red highlights to flame. At one point, the woman turned away from Izzy, obviously disgusted with his attempts to try to divert her anger. At that, moment Evie got a vague impression of a heart shaped face set into stern lines. It was only a vague impression for at that moment Evie could see her eyes; they were the most amazing green that glowed like living emeralds with her anger. her eyes jogged Evelyn's memory.

"Don't worry Izzy, I had enough money to stake against Khepri and I managed to win her and double my money back," the woman continued benevolently, "if you needed the money why didn't you just ask?" She then laughed at Izzy's stricken face. Sensing that the woman was going to leave soon, Evie decided to speak up then.

"Neala," at the sound of Evie's voice the woman quickly turned away from Izzy. "Neala Ayddson, what are you doing in Egypt?"

"Is that really Evelyn O'Connell I see before me?" Neala asked somewhat jokenly stepping forward to embrace Evie warmly. "What are you doing back in Egypt so soon? Your last letter mentioned that you wanted at least a few years of calm in England."

"Oh, well something came up," Was Evie's vague answer, she did not want to talk about it. As always, Neala seemed to guess what was going on; for her smile quickly faded and her emerald eyes focused on Evelyn making it hard for her to remain silent. Just like when they were children and Evie was trying to hide something form Neala. All it took was one look from those piercing eye to make Evie spill everything.

"Evie, who is this?" Rick asked, ignoring Izzy for a moment.

"This, old chum, is our cousin Neala Bey Ayddson. She and Evie have always been ridiculously chummy with each other. Personally she's always been a pain in the ass." Jonathon answered with a sarcastic drawl, Neala flashed him a quick grin.

"Strange I could say the same of you." She replied mimicking Jonathon's drawl. "I see you've recovered form that black eye I gave you last time we met." Neala teased stepping towards Jonathon while miming throwing a punch at him. He recoiled away from her mock blow; tripping over his own feet and landing painfully on his ass. Rick suddenly laughed no longer suspicious.

"I like you." He told Neala plainly.

"Thanks," was the caustic reply. Rick nodded then went back to arguing with Izzy and eventually got him to agree.

Meanwhile, Neala casually looped her arm through Evie's and just stood there willing her some comfort. As always, she knew when and was willing to give Evie support. Evelyn smiled at her cousin's immediate revival of her old role. She had missed Neala's company over the years and was pleased to see that they could easily fall back into their old habits.

"You owe me a story," Neala murmured into Evie's ear; Evelyn nodded in response. Satisfied, Neala let go of Evie's arm preparing to leave and scamper off somewhere. Evie grabbed Neala's arm pulling at it and silently telling Neala that Evie wanted her to stay. Neala nodded at Evelyn and did not run off; instead, she remained close by Evie's side. In that, way the two women followed Rick and Izzy. Jonathon was left to pick himself up of the sand and to either follow or be left behind.


	2. The Offer

Neala had always known when Evelyn needed her and when to leave her cousin alone. Therefore, when they had caught up with the still bickering Izzy and Rick, she gave her cousin one last reassuring look then slipped into the background. She had much to think about and she did not want the distraction of questions. As she stepped away from Evie, she heard a fearful gasp behind her, out of the corner of her eye she saw Jonathon freezing in fear. Apparently, she had almost run him over. Neala gave him a wicked grin then laughed silently to herself at his expression. She absolutely loved teasing Jon it was too easy.

She ignored everything else for a while in favor of trying to puzzle out what Evie and her husband were doing back in Egypt so soon. The last letter she had gotten from Evelyn had been postmarked in London and clearly stated her desire to stay home for a while and maybe finally give into the Pembroke Scholars pleas for her to be a curator of the London Museum. Her letter had also included ideal chitchat about what she and Rick had done in the past few months, as well as a few amusing stories about the trouble Jonathon and her son Alex had gotten into. _"They are cut from the same cloth, Neala, you wouldn't believe it. More and more I see Jon as a boy in Alex, the only difference is Alex tends to be more eager for adventures, and he's a bit cleverer at getting out of trouble…"_ Evie had described her son before going on to detail the latest bit of mischief he had accomplished. Neala had known about young Alex from the start, she had been invited to his christening but was unable to attend.

Yet, here was Evelyn back in Egypt with her husband but minus a child. Suddenly Neala realized that whatever brought Evie back to Egypt intimately concerned her son. Neala's concern and sympathy for her cousin grew tenfold and she wanted to rush forward and dragoon the entire story out of Evie, but she restrained herself. She would keep her suspicions to herself and wait for Evie to tell her in her own time.

Besides the sudden approach of seven or eight imposing looking men of the desert distracted her. Neala recognized them for what they truly were immediately; she did not need the one man's casual introduction. She withdrew even further back in the group, trying to remain unnoticed. It had never been her intention to come face to face with any of the Medjai, nor had it ever been her father's intention for her to meet a Medjai. Well no more than what was necessary, Jetin Bey may have cast off his responsibility to his tribe, but he could not cast off his devotion to his older brother. Therefore, Neala met and came to know one of the Medjai when she was but a child. Her uncle taught her the customs of the Medjai, and it was through his teachings that she was able to recognize the tribal leaders, through their traditional clothing and various signs of leadership upon that clothing.

Neala never understood why her father had turned his back upon the Medjai but she understood that part of the reason had to do with her. As if it was yesterday, she clearly remembered Jetin begging his brother not to mention the existence of his only child. A part of her wanted to turn and run, washing her hands of Evelyn and her troubles. Nevertheless, a strong sense of family loyalty kept her from bolting. Moreover, prompted her to make an offer she normally would not have.

She shouldered her way past Jonathon and came to stand on Evie's left hand side; she peered rather hostilely at the warriors before her then turned to the apparent spokesperson. She examined him for a moment before saying anything; she was amused to note the affection he had towards the falcon on his wrist.

"Are we planning a war? How lovely," she finally said adopting a devil-may-care attitude. She knew her attitude would draw there attention more so than her seemingly ignorant question. As she had hoped everyone's head snapped around to stare at her. "Nice bird by the way." Neala continued making a direct connection with the man. He bristled at that as she had hoped he would.

"You look upon these events with enthusiasm," he accused in a rich Arabic accent his black eyes flashing. He ignored her comment about his bird.

"No, I look upon them with exhaustion; it is always the same old story. Doom and gloom for mankind unless someone spills someone else's blood in the hopes of preventing certain destruction. How droll," she replied her voice becoming as dry as the desert air. He raised an ironic eyebrow at her response.

"Then why do you care?"

"Because I can help," she answered stepping out from her place at Evie's side so she, like the man was between the two groups. She turned her body so that she was facing him, and the brief thought of an old western showdown at nigh noon entered her mind. Neala stifled her laughter; she was supposed to be serious.

"How?" He asked curtly his suspicions clear. In answer Neala, raise one of her own eyebrows then whistled shrilly. A trumpet like neigh and the sound of hooves hitting the sand answered her. Soon coming over the nearby doom they all could see a majestic looking Arabian mare. She was pure white except for a black mark on her right shoulder; many thought it was a brand of some kind. That was not true; however, the mare had had that mark sense birth. Neala could understand why others thought it was a brand; it was an unusual shape for any normal markings. Who ever heard of a horse having a natural birthmark that passed remarkable resemblance to the all Seeing Eye?

Many horse breeders had told Neala that the mare's unusual markings were an unfortunate flaw on an otherwise flawless best. Neala knew otherwise however and the slight widening of the Medjai's eyes told her that he knew as well. Neala smirked to herself. The mare came trotting up to Neala and stopped at her owners' side. She stood there shivering with anticipation and finally gave vent to a very horse-like snort. Neala reached up and gently placed her hand on the mare's shoulders, deliberately covering up that mark.

"I offer you the use of my steed, Khepri, in your journey and the use of my sword at the journey's end." She finally answered him and her answer was deliberately formulaic. She knew that the Medjai would recognize her answer for what it was and she noted with pleasure that his eyes widened further.

"A kingly offer," he murmured.

They soon had that whole business settled and Izzy was gladly leading the way towards his precious dirigible. Neala had allowed the others to go on ahead of her so she was once again in the back of the group. She was worried about the spontaneous offer she had made; she and her beloved Khepri had hardly ever been separated before. The mare had gone to her temporary keepers reluctantly and after much coaching form Neala. Well the matter was settled and worrying over it was not going to solve anything, she had been assured that Khepri would be cared for and she had to accept that. If her uncle had been a good representation of the Medjai then Khepri would be treated like a queen of Egypt.

Neala was aware of the covert glances the man, Ardeth Bey Evie had introduced him, was directing at her. She was not in the mood to care, however. She knew that her offer had tilted given some of her background away and that this Ardeth would be watching her from now on.

They soon came upon Izzy's dirigible and Neala was greatly amused by Rick's threat to shoot Izzy. She was even more amused by Ardeth's exasperated question and she just had to laugh aloud. Ardeth turned around to glare at her and she laughed even harder.

"Why can't we people keep our feet on the ground indeed!"


	3. Defensive

They had spent some few days flying around Egypt in the pursuit of Alex's kidnappers. It was plenty of time for Evelyn to fill her cousin in on the whole situation. She was not surprised by the fact that Neala had calmly accepted her story about Imhotep as being the truth. Rick however had been skeptical of Neala's reaction to the story. He had questioned her rather fiercely about that.

"Aren't you the least bit skeptical?" He asked Neala with one raised eyebrow.

"Not in the least," was her casual reply. She was rummaging about in a leather knapsack she had managed to store aboard the dirigible without anyone noticing. She did not even look up when Rick began to question her seemingly blind acceptance.

"So you are just going to believe us?" For some reason Rick was finding Neala's willingness to believe the whole thing as being true utterly impossible.

"Yes," was her absented minded reply, "why is that a problem?" She asked looking up form the knapsack. Her green eyes bore into Rick's for a while before she went back to rummaging in the bag.

"Why yes it is." Rick replied obviously frustrated by her manner, Evie had to stifle the urge to laugh. Somehow, Neala always managed to be the cause of irritation for at least someone, if not everyone within her company. Neala sighed at that then finally pushed the bag off her lap, leaving in its place the items she had apparently been searching for. She looked over at Rick once again before answering him.

"Why shouldn't I? Evie's never lied to me before, and Jonathon wouldn't even dare lie to me now," that last thought was supplemented by a somewhat wicked smirk. "He learned the futility of that long ago, right Jon?" Jon only glared at her in response. Neala shrugged, and then returned her attention to the objects in her lap. "As for you Rick, I don't think I could ever see Evie marring a liar. That's just not in her nature, so based off that I'm willing to believe you."

"What about Ardeth?" Evie asked curious to learn what her cousin thought of the man.

"He is a Medjai," was the soft reply, "Medjai's are incapable of lying about such things." Neala's answer surprised Evelyn. She had no idea that her cousin had any knowledge about the Medjai. Evie turned to look at Ardeth only to find him staring at the bowed form of her cousin. Ardeth felt her eyes upon him and turned to look at her. Although his face registered no obvious emotions, there was a burning question in his dark eyes. Evie answered that question with a slight frown; Ardeth stared at her for a moment more before returning his attention to Neala.

"How do you know about a Medjai's ability to lie?" Rick persisted. This time Neala gave vent to a distinctively annoyed sigh. The look that she then directed at Rick was not one of complete anger but Evie could see those telltale signs of Neala's irritation. The tightness around her electric eyes was a sure sign that her patience was waning.

"You know O'Connor," Neala said her voice deceivingly calm but with a scornful edge to it, "for an adventurer you're not all that observant."


End file.
